Speech Contest, Headway with Students, School Lunch

Just realized I haven't reported on the speech contest results!  So this year all my students won something at the Motoyoshi speech contest which was cool.  For the recitation my students got 2nd and 4th, and for the composition my students got 2nd and 3rd (two students got exactly the same number of points so there were two 3rd places here).  The student who got 2nd in composition got to go to the Sendai prefectural speech contest, but she didn't win anything there, sadly.  I'm pretty pleased with my speech contest results actually!

Over 2 years:

8 students competed
7 students won prizes

2 students went to the prefectural contest
1 student won a 3rd place prize

The prefectural contest this year I think was a bit below the level of talent that appeared last year.   Some student from Sendai usually wins the top prizes and it was no exception this year.  But of course, like I mentioned last year, some students have a "limit" to their abilities, and it's mostly the ALT's job to bring out that limit.  I felt we were able to bring out that limit in my student, and even if she didn't win anything, we should be proud because we achieved her limit, which is really what is important I think.

Despite my lack of things to say to students I'm trying to force myself to say random things and I think it's been working a little so far.  The 1st years in one of my schools are finally warming up a little more to me which is good.  Same with the 3rd years in my other school.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the new first years will be like, but that's some months away still.

Every Thursday they put bread in place of the rice for school lunch.  I don't really like bread to begin with so it's tough when I like the rice paired with the soup as much as I do.  When they don't put fish stuff in the food I like it pretty much all the time.  Sometimes they put natto in which I do eat to try and get used to it, but I doubt I'll ever come to like it.

There's a BBQ tonight with 2 girls in nursing school.  It needs to go well.  I am still single and it sucks.

英語弁論大会 (eigo/benron/taikai) English speech contest